On this page
Why there is no single database to check
The FBI maintains a national criminal history database called the National Crime Information Center, but it is not accessible to civilians. Access is restricted to law enforcement and authorized agencies conducting official background checks under specific legal authority. The background check services used by employers for hiring decisions draw on similar restricted infrastructure under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and are likewise not available for personal research.
What civilians can access is the underlying court record data that makes up most of a criminal history. In the US, criminal court proceedings are public record in the vast majority of jurisdictions. The problem is not access but fragmentation. There are more than 3,000 counties in the US, each with its own court system, and most state court portals only cover their own state. Someone with a conviction in Texas and an arrest in Georgia requires two separate searches to surface both. People search aggregators exist precisely because they compile records across jurisdictions into a single report.
Understanding this structure changes how you approach a check. The question is not "can I find this person's criminal history" but rather "which jurisdictions do I need to cover, and what is the most practical path to covering them." Our criminal record search guide covers what criminal records contain and how they are maintained at the state level.
Start with a people search report
For a first-pass criminal record check on a specific person, a people search report is the most practical starting point. Aggregators compile court record data from multiple states simultaneously and return a consolidated result that no single state portal can match. The report will typically show felony and misdemeanor convictions, arrests that resulted in charges, and in many states traffic violations alongside the criminal history.
Two things make the report approach useful even if you plan to verify through official channels afterward. First, it surfaces the jurisdictions to focus on. If the report shows a conviction in a specific county, that county's court portal is where you go for the official record. Without the report, you are guessing which of 3,000-plus counties to check. Second, it catches records across states that a single-state search misses entirely. Someone who moved frequently may have records in multiple states, and the report covers all of them in one pass.
The practical limitation is that aggregator coverage is not uniform. State court portals vary in how much data they share with commercial services, and recently filed cases may not have propagated into the aggregator's sources yet. A report that comes up clean is informative but not a guarantee. If the stakes are high enough to matter, supplementing the report with a direct county court search in the most likely jurisdiction is a reasonable additional step.
What "criminal and traffic records" means in a report
People search reports typically present criminal and traffic records together because traffic violations are processed through the same court system as misdemeanors in most states. A DUI, reckless driving charge, or pattern of serious traffic violations appears in the same criminal court docket as assault or theft charges. The combined view gives a more complete picture of how someone has interacted with the court system than criminal records alone would.
State court portals
Most states operate a publicly accessible court records portal that covers criminal case history at the state level. The quality and coverage of these portals varies widely. Some states — Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin — offer free, thorough statewide search covering all counties with no account required. Others require per-record fees, offer only county-level access, or restrict certain case types.
If you have a specific state in mind where the person has lived or may have had legal matters, a direct search on that state's portal is the most reliable route to official court record data. Searching the state name plus "court records" or "case search" will find the right portal. Many state portals return results by full name, and some allow filtering by date range or case type to narrow results when the name is common.
For states without a statewide portal, or for jurisdictions where portal coverage is limited, you may need to search at the county clerk or county court level directly. District or Superior Court clerks in major counties typically maintain their own online search tools. Our court record search guide covers state-by-state portal access in detail, including which states have free statewide search and which require county-level navigation.
One important distinction: state court portals typically cover convictions and open cases. Arrests that did not result in charges, dismissed cases, and expunged records generally do not appear. In states with active expungement programs — California, Minnesota, New York — a clean court portal result can mean either no history or a history that has been sealed. The people search report and the court portal answer slightly different questions, and both are worth considering.
What a criminal record check actually shows
A criminal record in the public sense refers to court disposition records — the official outcome of criminal proceedings. This includes charges filed, plea agreements, trial verdicts, sentencing, and in many states the arrest that initiated the case. What it does not include, in most jurisdictions, is an arrest that did not lead to charges. An arrest record and a criminal record are related but distinct things.
- Felony convictions — serious charges resulting in conviction, including the charge category and sentencing outcome
- Misdemeanor convictions — lower-level criminal charges, including DUIs, petty theft, disorderly conduct, and similar offenses
- Pending charges — open cases where charges have been filed but proceedings are not yet complete
- Traffic violations — in most states, serious traffic charges processed through criminal court appear alongside other criminal history
- Arrest records — in states that make booking records public, arrests appear even when no charges followed; coverage varies by state
What does not appear: sealed or expunged records, juvenile records in states that seal them at 18, federal charges unless specifically covered, and cases in jurisdictions the search does not reach. For a more thorough understanding of what different record types contain, see our guide to arrest records and the distinction between arrests and convictions.
What gets missed and why
Several categories of criminal history are harder to surface than standard state court records, and it is worth understanding where the gaps are before deciding whether a check is thorough enough for your purposes.
Federal charges
Federal criminal cases — drug trafficking, wire fraud, federal weapons charges, immigration violations — are processed through US District Courts, not state courts, and do not appear in state court portal searches. Federal court records are searchable through PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), a federal system that requires registration and charges per-page fees for accessing case documents. If there is reason to believe federal charges may be relevant, a PACER search is the authoritative source.
Expunged records
Many states allow qualifying criminal records to be expunged after a period of time or upon meeting certain conditions. An expunged record does not appear in a state court search, and most commercial people search aggregators do not include them either. In states with substantial expungement programs, the absence of a record in a search is less definitive than in states where expungement is rare or narrow in scope.
Out-of-state records
A state court portal search only covers that state. Someone who moved across states multiple times may have records in several jurisdictions, none of which appear in a single-state search. This is the scenario where the multi-state coverage of a people search report adds the most value over a direct court portal search.
Recent filings
Court records typically take days to weeks to appear in state portals after a case is filed, and commercial aggregators draw from those portals with additional lag. A very recent arrest or charge may not yet be visible in any searchable source. This is a timing issue rather than a coverage gap, but worth noting if the question involves recent activity.
When to use which method
| Method | Best for | Limitation |
|---|---|---|
| People search report | First-pass check across multiple states; surfacing which jurisdictions to investigate further; combining criminal history with identity context | Coverage varies by state; recent filings may be absent; not official documentation |
| State court portal | Verifying a specific state; official confirmation of a conviction or case; states with high-quality free portals like Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin | Single-state only; expunged records excluded; portal quality varies widely |
| County court clerk | States without a statewide portal; confirming a specific county-level case; obtaining official court documents | Manual process; coverage limited to one county; may require in-person or written request |
| PACER | Federal charges: wire fraud, drug trafficking, federal weapons, immigration matters | Registration required; per-page fees; covers federal courts only |
For personal research on someone you know — a new contact, a neighbor, someone you met online — starting with a people search report and supplementing with a direct state court portal search in the most likely jurisdiction covers the practical range. For a fuller background check that goes beyond criminal history, the same report surfaces address history, contact information, and other identity context in the same pass.
Mistakes to avoid
- Treating a clean report as proof of no criminal history. Aggregator coverage is not complete for all states and jurisdictions, and expunged records do not appear. A clean result means nothing surfaced in those sources, not that nothing exists.
- Searching only the current legal name. People with criminal records sometimes use name variations, middle names as first names, or alternate spellings. A people search report returns known aliases and alternate names alongside the primary name. Check those separately if the primary search comes up clean and you have reason to continue.
- Confusing arrest records with criminal records. An arrest that did not result in a conviction is not a criminal record in the legal sense. Some states make booking records public regardless of outcome; others seal arrests that were not prosecuted. Context matters when reading arrest data in a report.
- Using these results for employment or tenant screening decisions. People search services are not consumer reporting agencies. Using a people search report to make an employment, housing, or credit decision is a violation of the FCRA and exposes you to legal liability. Official FCRA-compliant background check services exist for those purposes and must be used instead.
Start Here: Enter Any Name To View Records
Best services to try first
For checking criminal and traffic records on a specific person, these are the two services I recommend reviewing first. Both compile multi-state criminal history data alongside the identity context that helps confirm you have the right person before reading into the results.
| Service | Why it helps | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| Instant Checkmate | Compiles criminal and traffic records from court data across multiple states alongside address history, contact information, and identity context. The multi-state coverage in a single report is the core value for this type of check. | First-pass criminal record check; confirming identity before going to a specific court portal |
| TruthFinder | Broad criminal history coverage drawing from different source databases in some states. Useful as a cross-check when the first report showed a clean result but you have reason to continue looking, or when the person has lived across multiple states. | Cross-check when the first report came up clean; people with multi-state history |
These services are not consumer reporting agencies and cannot be used for employment, tenant screening, insurance, credit, or other FCRA-regulated purposes.
Frequently asked questions
Can anyone check if someone has a criminal record?
Yes, for most purposes. Criminal court records are public in the vast majority of US states. The FBI's national criminal database is restricted to law enforcement and authorized agencies, but state court records are accessible through state portals, county court clerks, and people search services that compile that data across jurisdictions. What you can access covers most of what appears in a standard personal background check.
What is the difference between a criminal record search and a background check?
A criminal record search focuses specifically on criminal court history — charges, convictions, and in some states arrests. A full background check is broader: it typically includes criminal and traffic records, address history, contact information, and other identity data. People search reports generally function as the latter — they return criminal history as one section of a wider identity report rather than as a standalone criminal-only result.
Can I use these searches for jobs, housing, or insurance decisions?
No. The services discussed on this page are not consumer reporting agencies and the information here is not a consumer report. They should not be used for employment, tenant screening, insurance underwriting, credit, or any other purpose regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
